


A Port in a Storm

by LeisurelyPanda



Category: Tales of Berseria, Tales of Series, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Because Laphicet would love waffles dammit, Bottom Eizen, Comfort Sex, Copious Discussion of Feelings, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dirty Talk, Drinking, Friends With Benefits, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Interrogation, Let Laphicet have waffles 2018, M/M, Naked Cuddling, Nipple Play, Oral Sex, Post-Coital Cuddling, Sort of? - Freeform, Top Zaveid, Waffles, no drunk sex though, nosy friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 08:22:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15432912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeisurelyPanda/pseuds/LeisurelyPanda
Summary: Eizen is feeling restless when the party spends the night in Stonebury a few days after they found the dragon on the plains. he finds Zaveid, who's lurking around feeling sorry for himself. A conversation turned tough love pep talk leads to a night of drinking and comfort for the grieving wind malak.





	A Port in a Storm

Eizen flipped the coin that was his vessel and caught like he’d done a thousand times in the past decade. The others were resting in the inn. Velvet, Magilou, and Eleanor were in their room and Laphicet was resting in Eleanor, as usual. Even Rokurou had turned in once his daily training was done. Eizen thought it was silly, considering how much fighting they did on a daily basis, but he wasn’t about to tell anyone how to live their life.

It was too early for Eizen to turn in yet, though. The sun had just barely gone down. On the ocean, he’d stay up since his duties as first mate/acting captain meant that he was responsible for making sure the ship stayed on course in the night. 

Not that he was the one steering the ship, that would surely end in disaster, but he was in charge of making sure someone was doing it. Life at sea generally meant that few aside from the captain got a full night’s sleep. He didn’t mind. Decades of sailing made it second nature. 

Which led to his current predicament: there was no reason not to sleep through the night. It was unnatural. He decided that he needed some air rather than try to stay holed up in the inn. At least Stonebury was nearly as windy as the sea. He could pretend he was somewhere else. 

He stepped outside and sighed as he felt the wind on his face. His coat billowed behind him as it caught the breeze. He would never admit it to anyone except himself, but the dramatic effect that his jacket had in the wind was part of the reason why he chose it. He shoved his hands in his pocket. 

“Quite the sigh you gave just now,” came a voice. Eizen suppressed a groan as he turned towards it. Leaning against the tree in the center of town was Zaveid. “Does Aifread’s first mate always sulk like this when no one’s looking?”

Eizen ignored the jab. “Thought you’d be long gone by now.”

Zaveid shrugged and Eizen decided there was no point in shouting in the middle of the night. He walked over to the wind malak and leaned next to him against the tree. 

“Nowhere to go for now,” he said. “Theodora seems not to care whether I’m there or not.”

Despite the fact that Eizen had accepted his inevitable destiny to become a dragon, he did feel sorry for Zaveid. Watching a loved one be consumed by malevolence until they became a monster with no thought or care for who they once were… it was why he left his sister in the first place. He could not, _would not_ , let his curse destroy her.

Whether she understood that… well, he knew how stubborn she could be. She would probably encourage him to try to break the curse like he’d originally intended. Who knows? Maybe it would eventually happen. 

_Probably not_ , he thought with a rueful smile. 

“Oh, so now you’re smiling?” Zaveid said. “Make up your damn mind, will you?”

“You got a problem with smiling?” Eizen asked.

“Nah, just figure out what you’re doing and stick to it.”

Eizen smiled in spite of himself. It was nice to talk to the guy without fighting him. Zaveid would have made a decent pirate, even, if he ever managed to get past his creed against killing. Eizen respected his resolve. There were some who might choose such a path out of cowardice or some lofty ideal they’d never have to question. Zaveid, though, he walked right into danger time and time again and never wavered. 

“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “About Theodora. For what it’s worth.” Eizen flipped his coin again and caught it. “However much an apology from the Reaper is ever worth.”

“Thank you,” Zaveid replied. “I appreciate it, even if you did try to kill her.”

Eizen was silent for a while. “You know, the Reaper’s curse all but guarantees that I’ll eventually become a dragon,” he said. 

Zaveid didn’t say anything for a moment. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Eizen said. “I’m not one yet. But when it happens, the one thing I would want would be for someone to kill me. Put me out of my misery. That’s why I attacked her. Having no choice but to blindly destroy and create malevolence… that’s no way to live.”

“I get it, I do,” Zaveid said. “It’s just… I don’t know.”

“It’s hard to accept,” Eizen finished for him. Zaveid was silent at that. “It took me a long time to accept, too.”

“I still don’t agree with your methods, though,” Zaveid said. “The way you rush in and kill without a second thought… I don’t see how that’s much different.”

It was Eizen’s turn to be silent. He didn’t mind it. Sometimes, someone just needed to get this stuff out. Eizen knew that Zaveid believed what he was saying, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that Eizen disagreed with how Zaveid saw him, either. The man was grieving. That was the important part. 

“I could never be like you, Eizen,” Zaveid continued. “I have to believe that there’s another way of doing things. Look at everything killing has gotten us so far. The orphans Theodora and I took in created so much malevolence that she turned into… that. Humans turn into daemons with every conflict. Just… what’s the point of trying to kill people to further your goals? Why not look for a way to save them?”

Eizen shrugged. “I suppose it depends on how you see saving them,” he said. 

“You piss me off so much,” Zaveid said. “Look at you. You stand against everything I believe, everything that I’ve tried to accomplish, and you’ve achieved so much more than I have. All I’ve got is Siegfried.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eizen demanded. 

“What?”

“I can accept the fact that you’re mourning,” Eizen growled. “But feeling sorry for yourself because you chose a more difficult path of your own free will is just bullshit! Do you believe in the ideals you’ve chosen for yourself or not?”

Zaveid glared at him. “Of course I do!”

“Then go for it, whatever it takes,” Eizen said. “Prove me wrong. Find a way to eliminate daemons and dragons without killing them and live to tell about it so you can rub it in my face! But if you give up now, then what the hell is the point?”

Zaveid glared at him for a while before he broke into a grin and began to laugh. The man doubled over as he laughed with his whole body. Eizen looked on, utterly baffled until Zaveid finally straightened himself. 

“You’re right,” he finally said, brushing a tear from the corner of one of his eyes. “Can’t let you win until I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that your way really is the only way.”

Eizen smiled a little and clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s what I like to hear.”

They stood there a while longer until Zaveid groaned and stretched as he pushed himself off the tree. 

“I’m gonna go back inside,” he said. “Got a couple bottles of Passion’s Remedy in my room at the inn if you’d care for some.”

Eizen’s eyebrows rose. “That’s the drink meant for mourning a lost cause,” Eizen said.

“Yup,” Zaveid replied. “I haven’t given up yet, but… don’t know that I’ll ever really find a way to turn her back. At least, not any time soon.”

“And me?” Eizen asked. “What cause am I mourning?”

“I dunno, your fate, maybe?” Zaveid replied. “Maybe there is a way to break the curse, but who really knows at this point, right?”

Eizen shrugged. “Fair enough. Thanks for the offer.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea now,” Zaveid said as he headed towards the inn with that swagger of his. “I still hate your balls.”

Eizen chuckled. “Of course. I expect no less.”

In truth, it was good to get away from the others and simply be with a malak around his own age for once. Give or take a century or so. The liquor Zaveid brought out of his pack had a dark blue hue to it, though in the dim candlelight, it looked almost black. Zaveid poured each of them of a small glass with ice and they toasted. The drink was well named. At first taste, it was sweet and clear, but the aftertaste faintly bitter. Eizen could practically taste the kind of disillusion that it was named for. 

“Damn,” he said. “I think I might cry.”

Zaveid chuckled. “That’s the point, isn’t it?” he asked. “One night of wishing things could be different won’t kill us.”

“Clearly you haven’t been paying attention,” Eizen said with a rueful grin as he brought the glass to his lips for another taste. This time, the bitterness on his tongue mingled with the sweetness and Eizen wondered to himself if the drink was named for the second taste instead of the first.

 _Whoever brewed this was either a genius or insane_ , Eizen thought. Either way, it worked. 

Zaveid refilled their glasses once more before he put the drink away. “You know, I wanna thank you for coming out tonight,” he said. “I needed some company.”

Eizen nodded as he took another sip of the drink. “Of course. Though, I didn’t really know that you’d be there.”

“Still, you stayed. So thanks,” Zaveid said. Eizen hummed. 

“Just tell me when to beat it and I’ll go,” he replied. 

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, when I get tired of you being here, I’ll tell you.”

They drank in companionable silence for a while. Eizen found how much he enjoyed being around someone who didn’t have any expectations for him. They could brawl, but unless they planned on waking everyone up, there was no reason for them to do so. It was a nice change of pace. 

Eventually, though, Eizen got up and headed towards the door. As much as he wanted to keep this going, he did have places to be tomorrow and it had to be near midnight by now. 

“Where you goin’?” Zaveid asked. 

“To sleep,” Eizen replied.

“But I didn’t say I wanted you to leave yet,” Zaveid protested, propping his feet up on the table. “Seems kinda rude, if you ask me.”

Eizen chuckled and walked back over. “You planning on drinking some more, or do you have something else in mind?”

“Maybe I do,” Zaveid said quietly.

Eizen could sympathize. There were many a time when a companion died that he sought comfort in the arms of another. Hell, at times when the person he lost had been a lover. There were also times when he provided that for someone else. It happened. He had to admit, too, that he had watched the way Zaveid’s hips swayed when he swaggered off on more than one occasion. Zaveid was objectively a handsome malak. 

“Didn’t know you swung that way,” Eizen said. Which was bullshit, since most malakhim did swing both ways. It was a product of not having to reproduce and thus, sexual orientation existed purely for pleasure. It was unfortunate that humans were so picky due to their mortality.

“I swing lots of ways,” he replied. “Of course, I could just want you to help keep me warm, seeing as the night’s cold and all.”

“Dangerous business,” Eizen said with a smirk. “I caused a bed to spontaneously combust once.”

“Don’t know whether to believe that or not,” Zaveid said. 

“Do you want to find out?” Eizen asked. “Could be dangerous.”

Zaveid stood up and put his hands on Eizen’s hips before pulling him closer. Eizen put his arms on Zaveid’s shoulders and wrapped them around his neck. He grinned the charming smile that always seemed to work on whomever he was pursuing at the time. If the Reaper’s Curse was bullshit 99% of the time, at least it didn’t keep him from getting laid. 

“I dunno, I kinda like danger, personally,” Zaveid replied. His hands slid down to grasp Eizen’s ass. Eizen hummed softly as the wind malak began to knead his ass. 

Damn, it had been too long, especially since he’d slept with a man. Women were great and Eizen didn’t mind sleeping with them at all, but there was something equally amazing about sleeping with a strong man that Eizen didn’t get to experience all that often. For some reason, humans tended to be a bit more uptight about such things than malaks. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Eizen whispered against Zaveid’s lips. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied before he kissed Eizen. 

Zaveid took charge. Normally, Eizen preferred to be the dominant party in bed, but if this was what Zaveid needed, he would go with it. He moaned as he tangled his gloved fingers in Zaveid’s hair. He could taste the alcohol on Zaveid’s tongue, the memory of the bittersweet concoction lingering in their mouths. Zaveid squeezed his ass and Eizen’s cock jumped to attention, instantly rock hard. Zaveid pushed his thigh between Eizen’s legs and Eizen rutted against it to get some friction and relief against his member. 

“Shit, baby, you’re so hard for me,” Zaveid whispered. He pressed his thigh harder against Eizen’s cock. Eizen moaned at the contact. “Fuck, you’re big, too. Can’t wait to get my mouth on that.”

Instantly, the only thing Eizen could think of was Zaveid on his knees taking Eizen into his mouth. He thought about grabbing a fistful of Zaveid’s hair and fucking that hot mouth of his. He groaned at the thought. 

“Been a while, Eizen?” Zaveid murmured against his lips. “Don’t worry, I’ll go slow for you.”

“Shut up,” Eizen replied. He kissed Zaveid and pushed him towards the bed. Zaveid laughed in surprise but went with it. They tumbled onto the bed, which was, thankfully, big enough for two. Zaveid rolled them over so that he was on top and straddled Eizen’s hips. 

“We gotta do something about these clothes,” he said. His fingers went to the buttons on Eizen’s vest and undid them deftly. The vest, along with the jacket, were the first to and Zaveid casually tossed them to the floor. The orange shirt didn’t last much longer before Zaveid ripped it off over Eizen’s head. His hands began to explore Eizen’s muscled body. 

Maybe it was an earth malak thing, but Eizen looked like his body was carved from marble. Hard, hot, and strong. Other earth malaks Eizen had slept with over the years tended to have similar bodies, whether they were male or female. Zaveid didn’t seem concerned by this as his hands ran over Eizen’s abs and arms before they grazed across his nipples. 

Eizen moaned loudly and Zaveid chuckled against his mouth. “Oooh, you like that, huh?” he asked. Zaveid began to tease Eizen’s nipples as his mouth moved down to suck on Eizen’s neck. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll make it good for you.”

Eizen’s retort was drowned by the combination of Zaveid’s mouth on his neck and fingers on his nipples. Eizen had been told by past lovers that his body was sensitive even for an earth malak. He never complained, though, especially when he was with a lover who knew what they were doing. Zaveid clearly knew what he was doing, too. 

Zaveid’s mouth moved down Eizen’s body, kissing, licking, and sucking as he went. Eizen groaned loudly when one of Zaveid’s hands was replaced by his mouth. Eizen grabbed Zaveid’s head, tangling his fingers in his hair again, and held him there. The man looked up at him through his eyelashes and looked insufferably smug at this development. 

“Fuck you,” Eizen groaned. 

“Think that’s my line, baby,” Zaveid replied with a grin. Eizen rolled his eyes. Wind malaks, he thought. Why do they all have to love puns so much?

“It won’t be if you don’t hurry up,” Eizen said. 

“So impatient,” Zaveid said. He then proceeded to ignore Eizen as he moved to the other nipple and Eizen moaned again as Zaveid teased and sucked on the sensitive flesh. “It really has been a while for you. Don’t you want it to last?”

He had a point, but Eizen didn’t have to admit it to him. Who knows when the next time he’d be able to get off with someone else would be? His right hand could only get him so much relief. 

Finally, _finally_ , Zaveid moved further down Eizen’s body, but not until both Eizen’s nipples were red and swollen. There would be bruises later, not that Eizen minded. Zaveid unlaced Eizen’s pants and shoved them down. His cock sprang free from its confinement and Eizen sighed with relief. 

“Shit, you’re bigger than I thought, baby,” Zaveid said. His crimson eyes were dark with arousal as he looked at Eizen’s member. He licked one long stripe up Eizen’s cock and Eizen made a sound that was half sigh, half moan. A moment later he felt Zaveid’s hot mouth engulf his member. He sunk down about halfway before he came off. He wrapped a hand around the base and jerked Eizen in tandem with his mouth. 

“Fuck,” Eizen moaned. Zaveid hummed around his cock, sending sparks of pleasure up Eizen’s spine. “Shit, you’re good at this.”

Zaveid grinned around Eizen’s member, somehow managing to look cocky even with a mouthful of cock. Eizen took his gloves off and carded his fingers through Zaveid’s hair. It was courser and thicker than he expected. He heard the jingle of a belt being undone and suddenly Zaveid moaned again around Eizen’s cock. 

“Fuck, you like sucking dick, don’t you?” Eizen moaned. Zaveid hummed around him. “Gods, that feels amazing.”

Zaveid just kept sucking, his tongue teasing the underside of the head of Eizen’s cock. In the back of Eizen’s mind, somewhere beneath the lustful fog, he thought that it might be the best blowjob he’d ever received. Considering the number that had been over 1000 or so years he’d been alive, that was significant. 

“Zaveid, uhn, I’m gonna come if you keep this up,” Eizen groaned. Immediately Zaveid popped off Eizen’s cock and shucked his pants to the ground as he stood. Eizen’s eyes fell to the long, hard member hanging between Zaveid’s legs. He swallowed. This was going to be amazing. 

“Roll over, pretty boy,” Zaveid said. He threw his jacket to the floor, revealing his muscular chest. Eizen’s eyes fell to take in Zaveid’s naked body. 

He was… impressive. Beautiful, even. The white tattoos that appeared through his jacket extended up over his left pec and shoulder and down the other side to his side. His entire body, even his dick, was gorgeously tan in a way Eizen could never manage. His skin burnt too easily. Eizen immediately thought about how long Zaveid had spent nude in the sun for him to get this evenly tan over his whole body. 

“I gotta get you ready if you wanna take this bad boy.”

“I’m not pretty,” Eizen muttered as he complied. “I’m ruggedly handsome.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Zaveid said. Eizen heard a vial be uncorked before he felt a lubed finger teasing his hole. “Your hole is pretty, though. Look at that, how long’s it been for you, baby?”

“Longer than I care to admit,” he replied with a groan as Zaveid’s finger breached him. 

“I can tell. Fuck, you’re so tight,” Zaveid moaned. “Damn, can’t wait ‘til you’re wrapped around me.”

Eizen almost told him to hurry, but with his luck, that was a bad idea. He did, however, push back against Zaveid to get that finger deeper inside him. Any relief he could get was welcome, especially when he had already been close to coming once already. 

Zaveid fucked him with that finger languidly, however. He refused to be rushed, it seemed. Eizen was torn between being annoyed and being grateful that his lover for the evening actually knew how to prep someone properly. Finally, after several long minutes, Eizen felt a second finger press against his opening before joining the first inside him. Zaveid’s other hand stroked along the length of Eizen’s back. Eizen arched into the touch. As soon as he did so, he felt Zaveid’s fingers hit his prostate and he moaned loudly. 

“There it is,” Zaveid said. His fingers began to brush directly over that bundle of nerves. Eizen felt like he was going to combust and hell, considering his curse, he was surprised it hadn’t happened already by now. “How you doing down there, Eizen?”

“I’ll be better once you start fucking me,” Eizen replied. He tried going for a growl, but the sound was definitely more desperate. 

“Aw, don’t worry, baby,” Zaveid cooed, pressing a kiss to Eizen’s neck. “I’ll fuck you good and long once you’re ready.”

“Fuck you, Zaveid,” Eizen groaned. 

“Maybe next time.”

Eizen wondered at that, but there were worse things than knowing that he could have good, no-strings-attached sex with someone, should they happen to cross paths. A pirate’s life didn’t allow for much else. Honestly, Eizen preferred it that way, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t wonder. 

Zaveid was good with his fingers. They stretched him slowly, the faint burn of the stretch in Eizen’s long neglected hole was both welcome and unfamiliar. With every thrust they brushed across his prostate, sending jolts of pleasure through his body. Finally, Zaveid added a third finger and Eizen moaned at the stretch as his ass accommodated Zaveid’s thick digits. 

“Fuck, Zaveid, I’m ready,” Eizen moaned after a while. “Please just fuck me.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Zaveid purred. Eizen moaned as Zaveid removed his fingers. He felt the faint rush of mana as Zaveid used a small cleansing arte. How humans lived without magic, Eizen would never know. They were missing out. Zaveid moved him so that Eizen was kneeling facing the head of the bed with Zaveid kneeling on the bed behind him. A moment later, Eizen felt the head of Zaveid’s cock press against his hole and sink in. 

“Fuuuuck,” he moaned. The stretch was amazing and worth the wait. There was a bit of burn, but not enough to be unpleasant. 

“Shit, baby, you’re still so tight,” Zaveid hissed as he pushed in. He fucked Eizen with slow, shallow thrusts, each one burying his cock deeper into Eizen’s hole. Eizen arched his back so that Zaveid’s thrusts would brush over his prostate and moaned. Zaveid gripped his hips roughly and the pain made the pleasure seem even more incredible. “We should’ve just fucked when we met, it would’ve been so much better.”

Eizen huffed a laugh at that. “What are you talking about?” he demanded. “We should’ve fought, _then_ fucked. That way we both get some enjoyment out of it.”

“More time for that later, I guess,” Zaveid said as he rocked further into Eizen’s body. More talk of later. If it was going to be like this, Eizen wouldn’t mind all that much. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

At last, Zaveid bottomed out and draped his body over Eizen’s. Zaveid pulled Eizen’s face around to kiss him. Eizen could taste the salty taste of sweat mingling with the fading taste of the alcohol. After a moment, Eizen nodded and Zaveid began to fuck him. It was just as promised, Zaveid thrusting into Eizen’s body with long, slow thrusts. It was amazing, the feeling of Zaveid’s long member dragging over Eizen’s prostate, his callused hands gripping Eizen’s hips, and his body pressing against Eizen’s back made Eizen’s body scream with pleasure. 

“You should join Aifread’s crew,” Eizen moaned. “We could do this all the time, then.”

Zaveid chuckled in Eizen’s ear. “Thanks, but no thanks,” he said, with a sharp thrust into Eizen’s body. “I got my own path to walk.”

“A shame. You’d make a decent pirate,” Eizen said. 

“Yeah, you’d make a decent vagabond yourself,” Zaveid replied. 

Eizen wrapped his legs around Zaveid’s waist as Zaveid fucked into him. His hands fisted the sheets beneath him as he endured the constant barrage of thrusts over his prostate. As much as he was doing this for Zaveid, he had to admit that he needed this, too. He pushed back against Zaveid’s body, matching him thrust for thrust as he tried to get the man to go deeper, harder. 

“Fuck, Eizen, you feel so damn good,” Zaveid murmured as he placed a kiss on Eizen’s neck. “Shit, I could become a pirate after all just to help myself to this fine booty.”

Despite their situation, Eizen groaned and rolled his eyes. “Never make that pun again.”

“But it’s such a fine ass,” Zaveid said with another sharp thrust. Eizen moaned in spite of it. “It treats my cock so well.”

Eizen grinned at the praise and reached back to grab his own cock, which was hard and aching and desperate for attention. As soon as he touched it, Zaveid smacked his hand away and grabbed Eizen’s cock himself. Eizen moaned loudly as Zaveid pumped his cock in tandem with his thrusts. Eizen could feel his orgasm forming in the pit of his stomach. 

“Fuck, Zaveid, I’m close,” he moaned. Zaveid grunted in his ear and began to fuck him faster as his other hand left Eizen’s hips and latched onto one of Eizen’s sensitive nipples. It was incredible. Eizen thought he might burst from all the pleasure he felt, which would be completely in line with his curse, some rational part of his brain thought. 

“Come for me, baby,” Zaveid growled in Eizen’s ear. Eizen moaned and angled his head back to kiss Zaveid. It was a hot, open mouthed kiss that left him a bit breathless. “Do it, baby. I got you, come for me.”

Finally, Eizen growled as he came, his seed shooting out onto the sheets beneath him. Zaveid groaned as Eizen’s ass tightened around his member. Zaveid fucked him through his orgasm until the last of Eizen’s come dripped from his cock. 

“Where do you want it?” Zaveid asked. 

“Huh?”

“I’m gonna come Eizen, where do you want it?”

“My ass. Inside,” he breathed. His entire body felt more sensitive, more alive and Zaveid fucking him felt even more incredible in his post-climax haze. 

“Fuck, baby,” Zaveid groaned. “Fuck, you’re so pretty, so tight, I’m gonna—I’m c-coming!”

Eizen moaned softly as he felt Zaveid release hot, thick ropes of come into his ass. He tightened his ass around Zaveid’s cock as Zaveid fucked through his orgasm until he was spent. He slipped out of Eizen’s ass and collapsed on the bed next to him. 

The only sound in the room for a while was their breathing. Eizen looked over at Zaveid and grinned as he caught his breath. Zaveid grinned back and rolled over to kiss Eizen again. 

“Do you mind if we…?” Zaveid asked. 

“If we… what?” Eizen asked. 

“Cuddle.”

Eizen actually blushed at that. The truth was, whether it was with a prostitute, a lover, or anyone else, he loved to cuddle after sex. Call it his nature as an earth malak to like being touched, especially during and after a good fucking.

“I don’t mind,” he said, scooting closer to the wind malak. Zaveid wrapped his arms around Eizen’s waist and they kissed again. It was slow, sweet, and deep. Eizen couldn’t taste the alcohol on Zaveid’s tongue anymore and he found that he preferred it this way. 

“Feel better?” Eizen asked. Zaveid sighed and rested his forehead against Eizen’s, closing his eyes. 

“A little bit,” he admitted quietly. “Thanks for the company. I appreciate it.”

“Everyone grieves in their own way,” Eizen said. “As long as it helped, I don’t mind.”

“It did, a bit,” Zaveid replied.

“I can go if you want,” Eizen offered. 

“In the morning,” Zaveid said. “It’s a good night for company.”

Eizen chose not to argue with that. Grieving was hard enough without doing it alone. He knew that from experience. 

“We should probably sleep,” Zaveid continued. “You got that merry band of misfits to join in the morning. Don’t want them to leave without you.”

“Yeah. I have to find Captain Aifread,” Eizen replied. 

“Bit of a shame, honestly,” Zaveid continued. “I was looking forward to seeing all the tricks you picked up.”

Eizen grinned. “Well, we’d be here a while if you wanted to see all of them, but… maybe there’s enough time for another round.”

“Thank goodness.”

* * *

Eizen yawned the next morning as he stepped out of Zaveid’s room later than he would’ve liked. Not late enough for his companions to have left, it would seem. Laphicet, Magilou, Eleanor, Bienfu, and Rokurou were all eating breakfast in one corner of the inn. Velvet, as usual, was leaning against a far wall glaring at nothing in particular. An unlikely person in which to find a kindred spirit, but Eizen wasn’t going to judge. 

“You’re awake!” Laphicet cried cheerfully. “Morning, Eizen!”

“We thought you found a lead on Aifread and left on your own,” Rokurou teased.

“Yes, a daring adventure into the cold, lonely night fraught with peril!” Magilou crowed. “Looking for truth down a forgotten well, asking for wisdom from the Great Normin, or fighting nobly but futilely against a great sea monster! You know, usual adventure stuff.”

Eizen chuckled even as he wasn’t nearly awake enough for the kid’s cheerfulness or Magilou’s… eccentricity. He got three cups of some type of black tea (he could smell cardamom, but that was about all he could tell from it), and sat down. Laphicet placed a plate piled high with bacon, berries, and some type of round, ridged bread he couldn’t place. 

“It’s called a waffle!” Laphicet explained. “You put butter on them and a sweet sauce called syrup on them and they’re really yummy!”

“Thanks, kid. I thought you said you thought I left?” he asked. Laphicet shook his head. 

“I thought you just went to be on your own somewhere,” Laphicet replied. “You said everyone has times when they need to be alone.”

“But he wasn’t alone, were you, Eizen?” Rokurou said with a shit eating grin on his face. “I saw you come out of someone else’s room. Seems someone in our merry little band got lucky last night!”

Eizen ignored him in favor of drinking his tea. He hoped the bitterness would help him wake up enough to handle the barrage of questions that would surely arise now. Privacy wasn’t really something that these people thought much of, it seemed, if the interest in the content of his letters was anything to go by. 

“I thought he got into a fight,” Laphicet said. 

“What makes you say that?” Eizen asked. 

“That bruise on your neck,” Laphicet replied. Eizen actually did blush a little at that. “Looks like something really got you.”

“Aha! I knew it! So out with it!” Magilou commanded. “Name the dear damsel, the dastardly demoness, the adoring angel that beguiled our brave, brash buccaneer!”

“Magilou, it’s really none of our business who Eizen spent the night with,” Eleanor said over her own cup of tea. 

“Of course it’s none of my business,” she replied. “But I’m just interested in seeing who could tempt our dear Reaper, who would brave the gauntlet of despair and misfortune for a night of his company!”

Eizen groaned at the loudness. At that exact moment, Zaveid stepped out of his room and 6 heads, including Eleanor’s swerved to catch a glimpse of Eizen’s liaison. 

“You sly dog!” Rokurou chuckled, clapping him on the back. “I’d never have thought.”

“Goodness, well, that was certainly… unexpected,” Eleanor said as she blushed and hid her face in her tea. Magilou cackled and Velvet rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

“Aww, I was hoping for a pretty maiden,” Bienfu said, going back to his food. “Come on, Eizen, I thought you’d have better taste. Just cause he has long hair doesn’t make him a girl, you know.”

“I’m aware,” Eizen growled. 

“I don’t get it,” Laphicet said. “I thought Eizen spent the night with a girl. Was there a girl in there with you and Zaveid last night?”

Eleanor began choking on her tea at that while Magilou cackled even louder. Velvet didn’t look to be doing much better, herself.

“Oh, the inhumanity of it all!” Magilou cried. “A young, innocent maiden seduced by a dashing rogue and a fearsome pirate! How could you do such a thing to one so pure?!”

Eizen sighed and started his second cup of tea. It was still too early in the morning to deal with this. 

“Laphicet, I spent the night with Zaveid,” he said. “There was no girl.”

“Oh… so what happened?” he asked. 

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“What’s the question?” Zaveid asked as he sat down next to Eizen with his own plate of food and a couple more cups of tea. 

“What did you do with Eizen last night?” Laphicet asked. “Everyone seems to be quite excited by it, but you’re not a girl, so I don’t get it.”

“Oh,” Zaveid said. He took a long drink from his tea. “We drank.”

“You drank?” Rokurou repeated. 

“And we talked,” Eizen added. 

“So drinking and talking,” Magilou said. “Any other delicious details you want to share?”

“Then we slept together,” Eizen said. 

“I don’t get it, what’s so special if all you did was sleep?” Laphicet asked. If it was possible for Eleanor’s face to get even redder, it surely would have done so. Eizen just shrugged. 

“I’ll tell you when you’re older, kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos give me life, y'all! <3
> 
> I completely made up Passion's Remedy. I don't think there's any drink of that name in the Tales of series. Also, you will pry my headcanon that Eizen is a secret cuddle bug from my cold, dead hands. And I fully reject the whole "dragons can't be purified of malevolence" thing because it's bullshit. :P
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](https://leisurelypanda.tumblr.com/) for various fandom related nonsense!


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